Illuminating means for hats



April 5, 1955 D. C. HARRIS ETAL ILLUMINATING MEANS FOR HATS 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed 001.. 9, 1951 .m y SM w mm m 4 Mam p 1955 D. c. HARRIS ET AL 2,705,751

ILLUMINATING MEANS FOR HATS Filed Oct. 9, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS fluid/12mm, Heep/M mm; Ema/v63 05564 R7 I v 4&4: 54C EW- x I 4 AT oAWE) United States Patent ILLUMINATING MEANS FOR HATS Dale C. Harris, Fred N. Wiest, Eldon C. Rosegart, and Lewis A. Crew, Pontiac, Mich.

Application October 9, 1951, Serial No. 250,422

2 Claims. (Cl. 240-60) Our object is to provide electric illuminating means applicable to the top of a hat, preferably to a hat having a circular flat top, a circular crown below the top but of a smaller diameter than said top, and a visor, the hat as a whole being of the conventional military type. A further object of our improvement is to include in said means a plurality of electric lights of the same color or in a variety of colors and to have switching means whereby the lights, or some of them, may be selectively switched on or off as desired. The more specific purpose of our improvement is to provide a bracket which may be removably mounted upon a hat worn by a member of, say, a uniformed orchestral band and to provide the member with switch means whereby the lights, preferably in different colors, may be selectively switched on or off. The result, in a case where a number of persons as a group are equipped with said illuminating means and will switch the lights on or off in unison, is highly spectacular.

We shall now describe our improvement with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of our illuminating means as mounted upon a hat, the view including a dry cell and switching means, both shown in solid lines, while the person wearing the hat and the cable leading from the switching means is shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 discloses the bottom view of an annular bracket forming an element of our illuminating means;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the electric circuit employed in the operation of our illuminating means;

Fig. 5 is an exploded view in perspective of a connector of the insulated wires supplying electric current to the illuminating means;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a modified species of our improvement, the view disclosing the manner of mounting said means upon a hat,

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the main, the device incorporating our improvement includes a bracket applicable to a hat and supporting a plurality of electric light bulbs, dry electric cell means in a holder disposed remotely from the bracket, the holder also supporting a switch or a plurality of switches, and cable means leading from the source of current, specifically from the electric dry cell means to said electric light bulbs.

The bracket shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is preferably made of light sheet metal in the shape of a fiat ring 10, and is provided with a plurality of apertures 11 in a spaced relation to each other. Seated within each aperture is a socket 12 threaded internally for reception of the base portion 13a of an electric bulb 13. The socket itself is also threaded externally for the application of a retaining ring 14 on the underside of the ring, as best shown in Fig. 3. Attached to the body of the ring, on the underside thereof, in'proximity to each socket is a resilient metal strip 15 serving as a contact means for one terminal 13b of the electric bulb seated in said socket. Each strip is afiixed in place by means of a bolt 16 which is insulated from the ring by means of a sleeve 17 made of a suitable dielectric material. The bolt, supplemented by a nut 18, serves as a means of securing said strip against displacement and as a binding post for a wire 19 supplying electric current to the respective bulb 13.

It will be noted that ring 10 rests on a plurality of clips, one of which, 20, is adapted to fit over the front portion of a hat, indicated generally by numeral 21, while two other clips 22 are adapted to fit over the rearwardlydisposed portion of the top 23 of said hat. The ring, thus supported by the clips, is in a spaced relation to the top of said hat. The front clip is provided with a downwardly-extending prong 24 which is adapted to fit into a slot or aperture in certain types of hats, the aperture serving ordinarily to receive plumes or other decorative members. In absence of such a recess the prong, bent inwardly as shown in Fig. 1, would grasp the top of the hat from underneath, serving with the other clips as a means of retaining the ring in its position on the hat. Each of the other clips 22 includes two bars 25 and 26, respectively, one being positioned above the other, there being enough space between the two bars for the rim portion of the top of the hat to fit edgewise into said space, as shown in Fig. l.

The light bulbs are preferably operated by means of one or more dry cells carried by a person wearing the hat and our light bracket thereon. A dry cell 27 is shown in Fig. l. The cell is contained in a casing 28 which is equipped with means adapted to fasten said casing to a belt 29, said belt being strapped about the body of said person. The casing contains also a plurality of switches 30 to control electric current for said light bulbs 13. A cable 31 composed of four wires insulated from each other leads from the switches to a connector generally indicated by number 32, while cable 31a leads from the connector to the bracket or ring 10. One of the wires 19c of cable 31a is connected by means of a bolt 33 to said ring for electric contact therewith. The other three wires of the cable, namely wires 19, 19a, and 1%, respectively, are connected to the respective strips 15.

The connector shown in Fig. 5 includes two drum-like members 32:: and 321). One of said members is provided with four prongs 34. The other member is provided with four sockets 35 into which the prongs fit to establish contact between the four wires of cable 31 and the respective wires of cable 31a.

The diagram of the wiring is shown in Fig. 4. The light bulbs shown in the diagram are marked R for red, W for white, and B for blue, respectively. All the bulbs of the same color are controlled by a separate switch. Thus, by means of the switches the bulbs of any one color or the bulbs of all colors may be switched on or off as desired.

Fig. 6 shows a simplified species of our bracket. Being Y-shaped, it includes one leg 36 extending to the front of the hat upon which it is mounted, the leg being bent rearwardly as shown at 37 and reaching under the top edge 38 of said hat. The other two legs 39 are provided with parallel bars 40 and 41, the formation being analogous to bars 25 and 26 in Fig. l and being used for the same purpose. A cable 42 supplies electric current from a dry cell, which is not shown, to bulbs 13. The bracket carries a single light on each of its three legs, as disclosed in the drawing. Here, too, the bulbs may all be of the same color or of dilferent colors. They also may be controlled by a plurality of switches.

It will be understood that some changes may be made in the design of our bracket and the distribution of lights thereon without departing from the inventive principle disclosed herein.

What we, therefore, wish to claim is as follows:

l. Illuminating means for a hat having a flat, circular top, the means comprising a flat, annular bracket adapted to be removably mounted upon said hat along the rim of said circular top, a plurality of clips mounted on the bracket, said clips including parallel bars for a frictional engagement edgewise with the rim of the top to keep the bracket above said top in a spaced relation thereto, a plurality of sockets mounted in spaced relation in ring-like formation upon the bracket, a light bulb in each socket, a source of electric current for said light bulbs, wire means to convey said current to the bulbs, and switch means to control said current, said source of current and the switch means being located remotely from the bracket.

2. An illuminating device for a hat having a fiat, circular top, the device including a flat ring substantially of the same diameter as said top of the hat, a plurality 4 of clips mounted on the underside of the ring, each of References Cited in the file of this patent the clips including, at its outer end, two parallel bars in a substantiitllty horizgngil'poskition for ad irictiogal len- UNITED STATES PATENTS gagement o t e rim 0 t e top etween sai ars, t e c ips being adapted to keep the ring in a spaced relation to the 5 1 2 2 n top of the hat, a plurality of sockets mounted upon the 1360988 FE 1920 ring in a spaced relation in a ring-like formation, a light 2203028 a 1940 bulb in each socket, a source of electric current for said 2320220 1943 light bulbs, wire means to convey said current to the 2448240 '1; 1948 bulbs, and switch means to control said current, said 10 a Wot source of current and the switch means being located remotely from the ring. 

